‘Operational issues’ have been blamed for the switch
The main evening edition of BBC Look North (East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire) had to be abandoned at short notice on Tuesday evening (October 21), due to what were described as “operational issues in Hull”. The local news programme, which is normally produced from the BBC’s Broadcasting Centre at Queen’s Court in Hull, was not shown and instead replaced by a pan-regional broadcast from Leeds.
Its main presenter Peter Levy, along with the X accounts for BBC East Yorkshire, BBC Humberside and BBC Lincolnshire, released a joint statement about half an hour before the programme was scheduled to air at 6.30 pm, confirming that the edition would come from Leeds following “operational issues in Hull”. The statement added that some stories from East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire would also be “included” as part of this shared broadcast.
Peter posted on X: “Hello. Tonight’s Look North will come from Leeds due to operational issues in Hull. Of course stories from East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire will be included in this shared programme.”
At the start of the programme presenter Amy Garcia in Leeds welcomed viewers from the region, saying it was “great” to have their company that evening. Some viewers were left feeling frustrated by the change.
When responding to the news on X, one person confirmed they would not be watching the programme as the content did not cover the areas they were interested in. A further viewer was seemingly disappointed, noting that while three stories from Lincolnshire were shown there was “nothing” for viewers in either Hull or East Yorkshire.
Earlier in the day, a shorter lunchtime edition of the news from Hull, presented by Peter, had been broadcast, so it is not clear as to why the programme had to be abandoned later on.